Pacific Station Vigilante (Book 2): The Negative Man [Stormfall] by Jeremy Croston

from the wound; I had to cauterize it. 
    Sparking the index finger on the hand inside the gauntlet, I seared the wound shut.  I had to hold my breath to keep from screaming as I dragged the electricity over the open wound.  The pain from closing your own wound is unbearable, but I got the bleeding to stop.
    Both of us slowly got to our feet.  He tried to skewer me again, but his aim was off.  I stumbled forward twice, close enough to grab him by his jacket collar and send him tumbling down another flight of stairs.  I fell with him, rolling right behind.  My journey ended when I fell on top of him on the next landing.
    I blasted another hole in the wall behind us, allowing fresh air to pour in.  I was still fighting off his poison in a bad way, but getting that air helped a little.  Knowing the closed quarters didn’t help his cause, he slipped out the floor we were on, leaving me in the stairwell.
    I went in right behind him and offices littered this floor.  The ceiling was falling down and sparks were flying from all the ruined electronics.  Before I could start my search, a loud voice echoed inside.  “This is the North Terrace Police Department!  All powered individuals inside come out with your hands up.”
    “Hey, I think you gained some new fans Hood!  People are here to see you.”
    I heard a slight movement across the floor but I couldn’t see him.  “This is your fault, you idiot.  You just had to go and rile me up and get the entire city involved.”
    No one called me an idiot.  Even in my diminished state, I knew the battle was still mine to win.  There were still a lot of computer monitors that were in good shape for me to use.  Knowing I couldn’t do this on my own, I tapped into the exposed wires above.  From there, I had a brief moment to slip in to the monitors and locate him.  With his location exposed in the northwest corner behind a bookshelf, I returned to make a plan.
    The sprinklers looked to be in working shape and I hit the nearest one, setting them all off.  With the unexpected appearance of water, I slid down the aisle to the shelf he was hiding behind.  I blasted it with what little negative charge I had left, only to find he wasn’t there.  I looked down and saw the broken shards of a mirror!  I’d been duped!
    A long spike ripped through the back of my shoulder and exited the front.  I cursed due to the pain and my own stupidity.  There was nothing left to tap; everything inside me was fighting off his power.  “Looks like your monitor trick backfired.  It’s a shame all your skills have spread over the news where mine are good and hidden.”
    Another spike entered my leg, the thigh area.  The more spikes he used, the more I wondered if Dr. Cooper’s theory of me was right.  I doubted I could take much more of this and live.  “Going to torture me with your spikes and stupidity huh?”
    “Just for another moment or two, then I plan to toss your body out the window to the pavement below.  That’ll make quite the return, huh?”
    This guy’s ego was bigger than mine.  “It’s such a shame I ruined that for you.  Everyone knows you’re back and you’re here.”  He thought he was in complete control and his guard was dropping.  “If I wasn’t here, would anyone even care about a washed up villain?”
    Another spike went through my gut.  This was getting serious.  “You really know how to piss off a guy don’t ya?  Stealing his thunder and everything.”  The tension left his body, my chance to counter was here.  “How’s the poison feeling?  Pretty good I bet.”
    At this point my body hurt so bad that I didn’t know which was physical pain or the poison wreaking havoc on me.  “There’s just one problem with your little plan.  You expect me to die and that’s just not in the cards.  You don’t have the power to kill me.”
    I didn’t want to hear any more wisecracks or nonsense.  I grabbed the spike sticking out of my